NEWARK, N.J. (AP) One was a high school baseball player in the late 1970s who dreamed of playing for the New York Mets but went on to become a federal prosecutor and, ultimately, governor. Less athletically inclined, the other was the baseball team’s statistician who became a behind-the-scenes political player with a bagful of dirty tricks he was unafraid to use.
Years later their paths came full circle in the saga known as ”Bridgegate,” the bizarre tale of traffic-jams-as-political-payback that took aback even hardened observers of New Jersey’s bare-knuckle political arena.
David Wildstein, the statistician, will be sentenced in federal court Wednesday for his role in orchestrating the scheme to close access lanes at the George Washington Bridge in September 2013 that brought down two former allies of Republican Gov.